Prof. Harold Fried acknowledges that unethical business practices have made the headlines in recent years, but he has his reasons to be optimistic about ethics having a place in the business world.
The professor of economics, invested May 4 as the David L. and Beverly B. Yunich Professor of Business Ethics, said he sees good signs in students' personal mission statements that focus on ethics, and in faculty eagerness to incorporate ethics into courses and to take on new teaching models like the Minerva Election Course last fall.
“I am hopeful and optimistic about the future because of the kind of students we have, the kind of faculty we have and the kind of the institution we have,” he said.
The David L. and Beverly B. Yunich Professorship of Business Ethics was created by the late Mr. Yunich, Class of 1939, and Mrs. Yunich. He was former vice chairman of R.H. Macy and Company, and chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. A former trustee of Union and a director at various times of 17 corporate boards, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the College in 1964.
Mr. Yunich had “an absolute devotion and dedication to this College, the region and Roger Hull,” said Peter Yunich, Mr. Yunich's son. “That is the reason my family has provided this chair.” Of Prof. Fried, he said, “I can think of no one who better represents what my father had in mind for this gift.”
Fried received his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan, and his Ph.D. in international trade from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He joined Union in 1983 after holding teaching posts at North Carolina State University and Tulane University.
While on the faculty at Union, he has been a visiting scholar at Australian National University, a visiting professor at the University of New South Wales, and visiting research associate at Filene Research Institute in Madison, Wis.
He has taught classes covering a range of topics including business ethics, international economic modeling, economic perspectives on public policy, U.S.-Japanese economic relations, sports economics and entrepreneurship. His research interests include efficiency measurement, productivity and benchmarking.
He has been investigator or co-investigator on a number of research grants from, among others, the Filene Research Institute, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
He is a co-editor (with Professors Knox Lovell and Shelton Schmidt) of two books on productivity and efficiency. His many articles cover topics including the performance of credit unions, efficiencies in U.S. metropolitan areas, and the performance of professional golfers. He has been a coordinator of a number of conferences including the North American Productivity Workshops, held twice at Union (with Prof. Suthathip Yaisawarng).
He is director of Union's Center for Analysis of Productivity and Entrepreneurship, and the Michael S. Rapaport Initiative to Introduce Ethics into the Economics Curriculum. He and his wife, Betty Daniel, have two daughters, Stephanie and Clara.